The energy, focus and multitasking ability of sleep deprived people can be boosted by a handheld device that delivers an electric current to the neck, a study has found.
Researchers led from US-based firm Infoscitex tested on 20 sleep deprived adults a device originally designed to treat headaches that stimulates the vagus nerve.
They found that the stimulation boosted alertness for up to 19 hours overall in comparison to control subjects who were given only a placebo.
The vagus nerve — which is the longest in the autonomic nervous system — passes signals between the brain, digestive system and other organs.
It has been linked to both mood and wellbeing, and electrical stimulation of the nerve has previously been shown to improve both memory and learning abilities.
According to device designer gammaCore, their vagal nerve stimulator delivers a mild shock, felt as a deep vibration in the neck and slight muscle contractions.
The energy, focus and multitasking ability of sleep deprived people can be boosted by a handheld device (pictured) that delivers an electric current to the neck, a study has found
‘Fatigue is a serious and unavoidable problem for many professions such as medicine, transportation, and the military,’ the team wrote in their paper (stock image)
According to device designer gammaCore, their vagal nerve stimulator delivers a mild shock, felt as a deep vibration in the neck and slight muscle contractions
The study was conducted by research psychologist Lindsey McIntire of Infoscitex — a firm based out of Dayton, Ohio — and her colleagues.
‘Fatigue is a serious and unavoidable problem for many professions such as medicine, transportation, and the military,’ the team wrote in their paper.
Induced by sustained wakefulness, they added, fatigue ‘can cause slower reaction times, a reduced ability to multi task, and increases in laps.’
In their study, the researchers tested a commercially available vagus nerve stimulation device — the gammaCore — which has previously been approved for use in the treatment of headaches and migraines and is available on the NHS.
The team recruited 40 active-duty personnel form the United States Air Force and had them stay awake for 34 hours — at nine points during which period each participant was tested for their ability to both stay alert as well as multitask.
Twelve hours into the experiment, each volunteer was given a six-minute treatment to the neck of either an electric current via the gammaCore stimulator, or a placebo device that applied no current at all.
The shocks from the gammaCore device are very mild.
‘It feels like a vibration combined with small, mild muscle contractions in the neck and lower jaw,’ said paper author and biomedical engineer Richard McKinley of the Air Force Research Laboratory.
‘The muscle contractions are gentle and are small enough they are not often detectible by the naked eye.’
The team tested a commercially available vagus nerve stimulator — the gammaCore, pictured — which has previously been approved for use in the treatment of headaches and migraines
The team recruited 40 active-duty personnel form the United States Air Force and had them stay awake for 34 hours — at nine points during which period each participant was tested for their ability to both stay alert as well as multitask. Twelve hours into the experiment, each volunteer was given a six-minute treatment to the neck of either an electric current via the gammaCore stimulator, or a placebo device that applied no current at all
The gammaCore device is available on the NHS for the treatment of cluster headaches by means of electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve inside the neck, as depicted
The team found that the subjects who were administered the vagus nerve stimulation both reported less fatigue and higher energy levels than those given the placebo — and performed better in the tests of focus and multi-tasking abilities.
The effects of the stimulation peaked at 12 hours after administration — with the benefits to the recipients levels of alternateness lasting for up to 19 hours overall.
According to the researchers, the findings suggest that vagus nerve stimulation via devices like the gammaCore may be able to provide an easy-to-use and safe method of mitigating the effects of sleep deprivation.
However, they cautioned, further tests will needed before the approach can be recommended for widespread implementation.
The full findings of the study were published in the journal Communications Biology.